Think about the last flight you took. You likely checked-in on your phone the night before, maybe you downloaded your boarding pass as well. When you got to the airport, you went straight to security or jumped through a relatively quick automated bag-tag and drop. You arrived at the gate and simply opened your boarding pass on your phone, scanned it, and boarded the plane.
In recent years, the airline industry has modernized the check-in process to save time, personnel, and even paper. There are so many benefits to mirroring this check-in process in the hospitality industry, particularly as travel and tourism suffer one of the greatest crises of its time with the spread of Covid-19. These advances are more important now than ever. Why? They are frictionless, paperless, and most importantly, contactless.
Frictionless Check-In
Frictionless check-in means there are less opportunities for human error, less barriers, and less hiccups along the way. In other words, frictionless check-in is efficient and saves you and the guest time. When you run through the check-in process for a flight, practically everything is done before you get to the airport—you check-in, pay for a bag, and receive a mobile boarding pass. You can even sign-up for various pre-screenings that let you fly through security.
CheKin’s system works just like that. Your guests run through all of the logistic and security measures before ever arriving at your property. That way guests have less to worry about upon their arrival, they don’t wait in line, and your employees don’t make simple mistakes in a panicked moment. As we each deal with the changes due to Covid-19, we’re aware there could be new regulatory requirements for the hospitality industry. Running through those logistics prior to guest arrival limits these points of friction and makes the experience simpler for you and your guests.
Paperless Check-in
You can go through the entire check-in and boarding process at an airport without seeing a single piece of paper—there are even digital passports. As airlines have demonstrated, paperless processing is extremely beneficial for both guests and employees in the hospitality industry. First of all, you and the guest have less physical documentation to deal with. Ever see stressed travelers walk up to the front desk with backpacks full of disheveled folders? Misplacing documents is practically impossible when you have all your information in one place. And as a property, your documents are all safeguarded in the CheKin cloud that communicates directly with the appropriate local authorities. Depending on what country you’re operating in, the law requires you to store the docs for 3 to 7 years.
Secondly, a paperless check-in is environmentally friendly—an important component of responsible hospitality and tourism. There is less waste and you and the guest can pride yourselves on doing your part.
Finally, there is less contact involved with a paperless option; there is no physical transfer of paper between two parties. Limiting physical contact in a post-Covid-19 travel world is crucial to keeping guests calm and safe.
Contactless Check-in
In a world focused on avoiding physical contact to limit the spread of Covid-19, keeping guests and employees safe is the number one priority. Day-to-day needs often push employees to physically interact with a lot of guests, but these normal activities may now put the employee and guest at risk. CheKin has two tools completely free of the common points of physical contact in the guest-to-employee experience: Check in online and Self Chekin. With less risk of contamination, employees and guests feel safe and you have peace of mind.
Bonus Benefit: Data Capturing
Capturing customer data is a bonus benefit to using online check-in. There are already mandatory guest registrations set in place in many countries, essentially obligating you as a property owner to send in guest information to the local government. Check to see if your country requires it. From this registration, you’ll also receive important data regarding your guests. This data lets you segment and target the customer for specific upsells and directs you on how to best attend to them during their stay.
Safe Travel
If we want the world to start traveling again, we must assure guests it’s safe to do so. Our mission has always been to offer 100% digital and contactless check-in to all our users. Now more than ever we see this as the best way to how to improve hotel check in process, provided peace of mind to your guests. And in the end, both you and the guest save time, do your part for the environment and stay safe.
how to improve hotel check in process
